My Favorite Verse


Luke 4:18-19  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because of which he has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send out in freedom those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

This passage is a partial quote from Isaiah 61:1-3:

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified.

This is the message which Jesus first proclaimed in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, and was rejected by his townspeople (apparently according to John 1:11).  One would think that one would hear this message proclaimed in the church, but alas, I have not heard it proclaimed much in my 37 years of Christian life in a variety of 'churches'.

I conclude from this that the 'church' in general is carnal, and not faithful to our Lord Jesus - they are faithful only to their limited perception of Him which fits into their carnal mindset. On the other hand, there are those faithful souls of every generation who seem to have a better perception of God and His ways and His plans and purposes because through brokenness and contrition they have been set free from living for themselves to start living for God according to 2 Corinthians 5:15:

(ISV)  He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.

These have 'come out' of the mindset and heartset of the world and its selfishness, pride and waywardness from God in response to God's call to 'come out':

2 Cor 6:17-18  Therefore come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Have you heeded the call to come out and be separated to know God and to fulfill His plans and purposes for you, dear reader??

PLEASE NOTE:  Jesus, at the time of the beginning of his earthly ministry, only proclaimed the 'favorable year of the Jehovah', and did not then proclaim 'the day of vengeance of our God'!!!  But now I believe that the time is ripe to proclaim both the 'favorable year of the Lord' or 'the acceptable year of Jehovah' and also the day of vengeance of our God.

What is the favorable year of the Lord?  I believe that it is that today is the day of Salvation for each person who hears the Gospel invitation to reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ.  It is never tomorrow because no one is guaranteed to live and be able to respond to God's invitation tomorrow!

What is the 'day of vengeance of our God?  I believe that it is a day which God has appointed to impose the penalties which are due to people who have not repented of their sins in order to become transformed into the image of Christ by the power of God's Holy Spirit.  I further believe that if a person dies before he or she has repented of his or her sins and has become reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, then that person will be held captive in Hell awaiting the final Day of Judgment.

PS:  I further believe that Christians will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to answer for their unresolved sins before they can enter into their eternal life with God.  God wants all people to be 'sanctified in the truth', and this final judgment of His people will purge the members of the body of Christ from all residual sin and unrighteousness.